Category Archives: Quick!

Confetti Pasta Salad-Women’s Conference

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Basic directions for the Confetti Pasta Salad for the Women’s Conference.

While I show the prep work for ONE batch of salad, please keep in mind that yours will be tripled, using the recipe amounts found below.

Thanks in advance for helping us out with the luncheon!

Shopping Preamble & Some Tips:

This is Orzo.  It’s a type of pasta that looks like large rice.  You’ll need a fine wire mesh strainer of some sort for draining after its cooked–it washes out of a typical colander’s larger holes.

It doesn’t much matter which brand of black beans that you buy.  I’ve used both a name brand and store brand and found both to be fine.

Here’s the basic round-up.

NOTE: Please use good quality olive oil.  Not that light stuff (which is blended with another vegetable oil) or any other cooking oil.  Just olive oil.  If you don’t have any, come see me.  I’ve got vats (I buy if from Costco in bulk).

If you wish to be reimbursed for your expenses, please save all your receipts–I’ll reimburse you that day, after the luncheon is over. However, we would appreciate it if you could donate your salad.

Please drop it off at the kitchen before going into the conference, and cross your name off the list, so we’ll know whose salad has arrived.  Thank you in advance for your willingness to help us out–with your contribution, this luncheon will be a big success (and delicious!).

Salad (The recipe is already tripled):

1 and 1/2 pound boxes of orzo  [NOTE: 1/2 box is about one and 1/4 cups of dry orzo.]
3 cans black beans (15 oz.), drained & rinsed
2 bags frozen WHITE tender corn, approx. 16 ounces
3 red bell peppers, finely diced
1 and 1/2 cups of red onion, finely diced (pieces are about 1/4″ size or smaller)
about 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

Bring a large pot of water to boil; add orzo.  Cook until nearly tender (not mushy, but not crunchy).  Drain, using a fine wire mesh strainer.  This may have to be done in batches.  Place drained orzo in a large mixing bowl.  You’ll continually add ingredients to this bowl as you chop and prepare them.

Drain the cans of beans, and rinse until water is clear.  Add to bowl, along with both bags of white corn–no need to defrost. Add the rest of the ingredients:  chopped red pepper, minced onion.

A cilantro bunch is kept in a glass of water, upright and covered with a plastic bag.  To use just whack off just above the twisty tie.  It will keep like this for at least a week or two (change water as needed).  I find a thumb’s thickness yields about 1/3 cup, chopped.  To measure, place LOOSELY in a measuring cup, or use the thumb-measure method.

Add chopped cilantro to everything in the large mixing bowl; pour one batch of Lemon Vinaigrette dressing over the mixture and stir gently to mix.  This can be made one day ahead.  Please cover tightly and refrigerate.

Lemon Vinaigrette:
1 lemon (to yield about 4 tablespoons juice)
1/2 – 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard (do NOT substitute other mustards)
2 Tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon Herbes de Provence (you can buy this in the grocery store, or see me)
salt and pepper to taste

First, squeeze the juice of 1 lemon into a medium bowl.

Add the Herbes de Provence, a few grinds (or shakes) of salt and pepper, water and sugar.

Whisk to blend, then add the Dijon mustard (a healthy squirt) and whisk again.

Keeping that whisk going, dribble in olive oil until it starts to thicken, then add some more.  I probably use about 1/3 to 1/2 cup in total.  Cconcentrate on it going from watery looking to slightly thicker as it emulsifies, while you are continually whisking and dribbling.  The success of this is in the two actions: dribbling and whisking.  It takes about a minute or two.

Recipe yield: 45 one-half cup servings.  Yes, we are counting every serving.  We currently have 285 servings coming, so I’ll be making up a batch myself to bring it up to the 300 servings that we need for that day.

If you want to make this for your family, the amounts for a single batch can be found if you click **here**.

Cheese Soup

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I was at a ladies auxiliary meeting for our church in Racine, Wisconsin.  It was a soup smorgasbord, and I was sort of picking and choosing which soup I’d like to try.  Marianne said to me: “Try this one.  You’ll love it.  It has Cheez Whiz in it.”  Even then I must have been a food snob because I said, “I’ll never eat anything with Cheez Whiz in it,” and passed it by.  Marianne started laughing.  “Go on, try it.  It won’t kill you.”

I tried it, and have been making it ever since, even though it has Cheez Whiz in it.  I know, I know.  But it’s amazingly good, and it hasn’t killed me yet.

Ingredients
1 8 oz. jar of Cheez Whiz
3 carrots, peeled and cut into nickel slices
2 or 3 potatoes, skinned and diced (depends on the size of your potatoes)
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cans low-salt chicken broth (I use Swanson’s)
about 2 cups rotisserie chicken, cut into 1″ chunks

Place the vegetables into a pan and pour a can of chicken broth over  them, just to cover.  Cook until tender, but not mushy.

In another pan, melt the butter then add the flour, cooking the roux until well-blended. Add the remaining can of chicken broth a little at a time to this pan, stirring to keep it smooth.  Dump in the vegetables, liquid and all into this pan, stirring to blend.  If it’s too runny, blend a little cornstarch with some cold water and add it to this mixture, stirring until it thickens.  If it’s too thick, add a little water.

Stir in the Cheez Whiz, promising not to make a face while you do it.  Then at the last minute, stir in the chicken.  We serve this with either oyster crackers from Trader Joe’s, or a loaf of La Brea bread.

Sole-Wrapped Scallops with Tomato Vinaigrette

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Whenever I walk down Costco’s book table, esp. the cookbook section, I always seem to pick up a new book or four.  I now have a dedicated shelf to cookbooks, where before there were none, so thought I should open them and use them besides just reading them for enjoyment and ideas.  One book I’ve had for a while is The Williams-Sonoma Cookbook, published in 2008, and that’s where I found this recipe.  I wanted something light but impressive for my birthday dinner and this filled the bill.

When the house was full of children, we had balloons on the banister, cards and presents and chaos denoting it a different–and special–day.  Now that there’s just the two of us, I always serve birthday dinners on china.

This recipe makes four servings, but you can adjust it easily.  Make the same amount of vinaigrette, and adjust the fish portions.  I served it with a butter lettuce salad with lemon vinaigrette and quinoa, with sauteed shallot (do first, then add the quinoa and chicken broth).

Vinaigrette:
2 tomatoes, peeled and seeded and chopped
2 Tbs. fresh minced tarragon or flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
1 Tbs. minced shallot
6 Tbs. olive oil (of good quality)
2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice (none of that stuff in the container–ICK)
Course salt and freshly ground pepper

In a blender or food processor, combine the tomatoes, tarragon, shallot, oil and lemon juice and season to taste with S&P.  Blend or process to make a smooth sauce.  Set aside.

Main Dish
4 sole, flounder or fluke fillets (I used sole), skinned
20 young spinach leaves, stemmed and halved lengthwise (you can see from my picture that I’d forgotten this step)
12 medium to large sea scallops, small muscles removed
2 cups fish stock (or equal parts of clam juice and chicken broth–which is what I used)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Cut each fillet lenthwise into thirds.  Place thd strips on a work surface (I use a double thickness of wax paper), and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover the strips with the spinach leaves.  Place a scallop near the slender end of the each strip, and starting from that end, roll up the fillet, enclosing the spinach leaves and scallop.  Use your two extra hands if you need to (just kidding, but I did feel like I needed a pair), then secure the roll with a toothpick.  Places the rolls in a baking dish and pour the stock over the fish.

Into the oven it goes, for about 20 minutes–just enough time to make the quinoa and assemble the butter lettuce salad.

Bake the rolls, basting occasionally (I just turned them over once), until the scallops are firm and opaque throughout (like I mentioned–for about 20 minutes).  Just before serving, heat the vinaigrette to warm, then spoon onto the plate.  Place fish rolls in the center of the viaigrette, twisting the toothpick carefully to remove it.  Garnish with more tarragon or parsley, if you want to.

It was so good, we had seconds, and didn’t feel the least bit guilty doing so.  This is an EASY dish to make, but it looks and tastes really fancy-schmancy.

Caramelized Onion & Apple Tart

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This was perhaps my favorite new recipe of the night, found online somewhere.  Purchase pre-made puff pastry (Pepperidge Farms is the one in our grocery store), top with crème fraîche, the onion/apple mixture and bake.  I slid them over onto a rack to cool for a minute, then sliced it up into squares.  I plan to make this one often; it’s easy and it went really quickly–both in the making of and into people’s mouths.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
2  and 1/2  medium onions, sliced
2 red apples (such as Braeburn or Gala), cut into very small dice
salt and pepper
2 sheets frozen puff pastry (from a 17.3-ounce package), thawed
1/2 cup crème fraîche (you can substitute sour cream, but check Trader Joe’s for the crème fraîche before you do)

Heat oven to 400º F. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Stir in the apples, some salt, a shake of pepper and cook until just tender, 2 minutes.

Place each sheet of pastry on a parchment-lined baking sheet and prick all over with a fork. Spread with the crème fraîche, leaving a one-quarter inch border. Top with the onion mixture and bake until the pastry is crisp and browned, approximately 30 minutes. Cut into pieces before serving.

Cheesy Sourdough Loaf

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I stopped by our favorite little eatery, Jammin’ Bread, to pick up a loaf of their sourdough bread, as it’s flavorful, but not overwhelming, and has a good crust on it.  This is another one of those recipes found online.  It’s best eaten right after it’s brought out of the oven; if not, microwaving the chunks will restore the cheese to its melty consistency.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Ingredients

1 round loaf of sourdough bread, unsliced
½ yellow onion, cut into thin slivers
½ cup chopped parsley
½ pound of grated jack cheese ( one 8 ounce package)

Grate the cheese onto wax paper, then with your fingers, mix the chopped parsley, onion slivers and cheese together.

Cut bread into diagonal slices, about 1 inch apart, stopping before you cut through the bottom of the loaf.

Cut bread in the opposite direction in the same manner, creating diagonal shaped cubes, taking care not to cut through to the bottom.

Carefully stuff the space in between each cube with cheese mixture.

Wrap in heavy-duty foil and place in the oven for 20 minutes. Leave wrapped until ready to serve, but really, you should serve immediately.

White Beans

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Last week in Italy, for our 20th Anniversary Dinner, we had two appetizers, healthy servings of pica (homemade spaghetti) with meat sauce, and to chase all that, these white beans.  Theirs were made from scratch, not canned, with bits of green onion, red onion, Italian Elixir of Life (that would be olive oil), a little salt and that’s it.

Cut to today, when it’s in the low hundreds, fires raging outside, and I’ve been grading and those beans sound like a good thing to pull together.  But I’m doing it SoCal style.

First mix up a batch of Lemon Vinaigrette, Casually.  Then get out your can opener.

Open two cans of Great Northern White Beans; Ralph’s has  good kind.  Drain, then rinse well, then drain again, then dump into your serving bowl.

Cut three 1/4″ slices off a large red onion; chop into small dice.  I guess that’s about 1/3 cup.   Scrape onto beans.

Go out into your garden and get a couple of springs of basil and a sprig of tarragon (optional), wash then cut the leaves into ribbons, adding to the bean mixture.

Having visited Costco recently, of course you have some deboned rotisserie chicken in bags in your freezer (about 2 cups each) and you actually remembered to thaw one out today.  Chop that coarsely, and add to the melange.  Pour the Lemon Vinaigrette over everything and gently stir with a spatula. Let sit until you are finished with your grading, or your project or until your spouse comes home, about 1 hour.

Chop some fresh tomatoes (about 1 large, or 3 Romas) into 1/2″ dice, and place into a separate serving dish.

When you were at Costco, you also remembered the Bake-Your-Own-Tortillas so cook some of those up, keeping them warm either in your cheezy styrofoam tortilla container, or a (clean) folded dish towel.

Serve the beans in a shallow bowl, accompanied by the tomatoes and the tortillas.  An easy supper on a hot day, but I think this would even be good on a cold day, if you heated everything up.

Angel-hair Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce

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Angel-Hair Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce
Gourmet  | July 2006
by Ian Knauer

This is my new favorite summer recipe.  I can never figure out how much 3 pounds of tomatoes is.  Here’s my guesstimate: 4 huge tomatoes, or 6 large tomatoes, or 8 regular tomatoes, or 12 Romas.  I guess I could weigh them, but these aren’t the kind of tomatoes you buy in the grocery store.  They’re the kind you get from your, or your neighbor’s, garden.  Really Fresh tomatoes.

Ingredients
1 small garlic clove
3 lb tomatoes
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 lb dried capellini (angel-hair pasta)
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

Accompaniments: finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling

Preparation
Mince garlic and mash to a paste with a pinch of salt using a large heavy knife.  This is kind of a cool mixture.  Mash and mash until you can’t tell one from the other–really moosh them together.  You’ll feel like a real chef.

Core and coarsely chop two thirds of tomatoes. Halve remaining tomatoes crosswise, then rub cut sides of tomatoes against large holes of a box grater set in a large bowl, reserving pulp and discarding skin. Toss pulp with chopped tomatoes, garlic paste, lemon juice, salt, sugar (if using), and pepper. Let stand until ready to use, at least 10 minutes. Note: Tomato mixture can stand at room temperature up to 2 hours.

While tomatoes stand, cook pasta in a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling salted water, uncovered, until al dente, about 2 minutes. Drain in a colander and immediately add to tomato mixture, tossing to combine. Sprinkle with basil.

Quinoa Basic Directions

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Follow the direction on the box or bag.  Really.

I usually use 1 cup dry quinoa (and I don’t rinse it) to 1 1/2-3 cups liquid.  I like using water, then I can mix it with other things, but I’ve also used chicken broth.

If this makes too much, dump the cooked quinoa into a ziploc bag and freeze it.  To use, put it in your microwave on a defrost setting, just until you can mush it between your fingers.

If you want to get fancy, you can go this way:
Wash 2 cups dry quinoa (about 10 ounces) in 3 changes of cold water in a bowl, draining in a large sieve each time. Cook quinoa in a 4- to 5-quart pot of boiling salted water, uncovered, until almost tender, about 10 minutes. Drain in sieve, then set sieve over same pot with 1 inch of simmering water (water should not touch bottom of sieve). Cover quinoa with a folded kitchen towel, then cover sieve with a lid (don’t worry if lid doesn’t fit tightly) and steam until quinoa is tender, fluffy, and dry, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand (still covered) 5 minutes.

Quinoa with Corn, Scallions, Basil and Mint

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Gourmet  | August 2006
yield: Makes 8 servings

Ingredients
2 ears corn, shucked (Our corn was really fresh, so I just used the kernals raw.)
finely grated fresh lemon zest from 1 lemon
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 Tbls. butter, melted
2 Tbls. olive oil
1 tablespoon mild honey
salt, to taste (it absorbs a lot)
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 cups cooked quinoa
3 shallots, chopped
1/8 cup chopped fresh mint
1/8 cup chopped fresh basil
Preparation
Put corn in a 5- to 6-quart wide pot, then add water to cover and bring to a boil, covered. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, 5 minutes. Transfer corn with tongs to a cutting board. When cool enough to handle, cut kernels off cobs with a large heavy knife.
Meanwhile, whisk together lemon zest and juice, butter, honey, salt, and pepper in a large bowl until combined. Add quinoa to dressing and toss until dressing is absorbed, then stir in corn, scallions, mint, and salt and pepper to taste. I added rotisserie chicken, about 1 1/2 cups cubed.  I also put out fresh chopped tomatoes to place on top.

If you’ve never used Quinoa, head to Quinoa Basic Directions (either find in Pasta/Grains category on the side, or do a search up top).  Basically, it’s like rice, with a little more liquid to grain.